A tip to Olympic hosts present and future: if you want people to remember your Games, throw an Opening Ceremony to remember.
Who can forget—in the 21st century alone—Sydney’s four-hour marathon, Beijing’s 2,008-drummer showcase, London’s humorous royal stunt, or Paris’s riverboat trek? Not every ceremony has been perfect, but each has given to the world a multifaceted overview of its event’s whole deal.
These are the shoes Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, have to fill when their Winter Olympics formally get underway Friday. If there is one area where the Italians are sure to pull their weight, it’s in the world of music and the arts. This is, after all, the nation of Caruso, Paganini, Verdi and Vivaldi. While these figures are long dead, their legacy lives on in the country’s diverse artistic spirit.
In this vein, here’s a look at the performers scheduled to lift the lid on Milan Cortina 2026—including one very famous American.
Gastelum: The 2026 Winter Olympics Will Give an Untraditionally Italian Region Its Moment
Andrea Bocelli
The most famous Italian musician in the world for several decades running. A native of Lajatico in Tuscany, Bocelli—a tenor and opera’s most recognizable figure to millions worldwide—performed at the closing ceremony of the last Winter Olympics in Italy in 2006. He is one of the best-selling artists in history, with album sales in the tens of millions. In the United States, he has landed nine albums in the Top 10, most recently the Grammy-nominated Sì in 2018.
Mariah Carey
An American R&B legend and the daughter of an opera singer. Like Bocelli, Carey is adept at moving product—she has four diamond certifications in the United States in addition to her five Grammy awards. Her most recent album, 2025’s Here for It All, hit No. 7 in the United States and No. 78 in Italy.
Pierfrancesco Favino
A widely respected film actor. For the 2020 drama Padrenostro, Favino won the Volpi Cup, the Venice Film Festival’s highest acting honor. In the English-speaking world, Favino has appeared in movies such as Night at the Museum (he played Christopher Columbus) and Ron Howard’s Formula One drama Rush.
Ghali
A popular rapper from Milan, Ghali, the son of Tunisian immigrants, has released four albums—and all have gone gold or greater in his home country. From 2016 to ‘18, he enjoyed a run of seven consecutive top-10 singles in Italy, and in 2019 he hopped on a remix of Travis Scott and Ed Sheeran’s US top-40 hit “Antisocial.”
Sabrina Impacciatore
A well-known actress both in Italy and around the world, famous in the United States for her Emmy-nominated turn as Valentina in the Sicily-set Season 2 of The White Lotus. Born in Rome, Impacciatore got her start on Italian television before moving to the film world in the early 2000s. Her Hollywood credits include The Paper and 2026 Sundance debutant Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass.
Laura Pausini
Like Bocelli, a monumental best-seller and one of Italy’s most recognizable musical exports, though unlike Bocelli she has very little profile in the Anglophone world. Pausini, from Faenza, rose to fame with the pop hit “La solitudine” in 1993. Since then, she has cranked out 13 albums’ worth of Italian pop—every one of which has charted in the Top 5 in Italy.
More Winter Olympics on Sports Illustrated
- What Makes the 2026 Winter Olympics Unique
- Who the Flag Bearers Are for Team USA at Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies
- Lindsey Vonn’s Full Schedule of Events for 2026 Winter Olympics
- Lindsey Vonn Confirms That She Will Compete in Milan Cortina Olympics on Torn ACL
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Who Is Performing at the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony?.
